More than 1 000 labourers on Wednesday walked off the job at a South African soccer stadium work site, the latest in a string of disputes disrupting the nation’s preparations to host the Soccer World Cup in 2010.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said its workers had downed their tools to press demands for bonuses and improved safety conditions at the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban, one of 10 South African stadiums being built or refurbished for 2010.
The wildcat strike followed a round of negotiations on Tuesday between the NUM and the consortium building the stadium.
”We wasted our time. We were locked in negotiations from 10am yesterday [Tuesday] until 9pm,” said Msi Poswa, the NUM regional organiser.
The NUM is demanding project bonuses of R1 500 a month for each worker and also that workers be allowed to elect a full-time safety compliance worker to address concerns about safety standards at the site.
The labour dispute came less than two months after about 1 000 NUM workers walked off the job at Green Point stadium in Cape Town, which is also being built for the tournament, in a protest over the lack of travel benefits.
The strike was settled about a week later after employers agreed to provide transport to the site from the nearby Cape Town train station and compensate workers for past travel costs.
South African officials are under pressure to ensure all the stadiums and other preparations for the World Cup are completed on time. They have played down the prospect that powerful labour unions could delay or block the work.
South Africa has experienced a series of nationwide strikes this year, highlighted by a month-long public servants’ labour dispute that led to violent confrontations in the streets and brought services at schools and hospitals to a near standstill. – Reuters